Paper-stock feeding and weighing machine.



S. J. DAVIS.

PAPER STOCK FEEDING AND WEIGHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT- I9, I914.

Patented June 1, 1915.

WITNESSES.- d '4- THE NORRIS PETERS (20.. F'HOTOLITHQ. WASHINGTON, D. C.

STANLEY J. DAVIS,

or WATERTOWN,

NEW YORK.

PAPER-STOCK FEEDING AND WEIGHING MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 1, 1915.

Application filed September 19, 1914. Serial No. 862,551.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, STANLEY J. DAVIS, a

itizen of the United States, residing at WVatei-town, in the county of Jefferson and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paper- Stock Feeding and lVeighing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a device for feeding certain kinds of paper stock to the heaters, and the invention relates particularly to a device for automatically handling and weighing paper stock derived from the side-rolls, to be beaten up and mixed with the new stock.

It is a common practice in paper mills having machines which produce continuous webs of paper of given widths, according to the sizes of the machines, to undertake the manufacture of paper for certain customers, wherein the width required is less than that normally produced by the machines. The paper machines are not readily adjustable for making webs or sheets of different widths; accordingly such orders are run to the full width of a machine, and as the paper is wound into rolls it is cut or slitted, and the excess over and above the width required becomes waste. This waste paper is also wound into rolls by the same operation, and these are called side-rolls. In order not to waste or lose the valuable material comprising the side-rolls, it has been the practice to feed the said rolls back into the heaters, where the paper is beaten up and mixed with the new stock from which paper is subsequently made. So far as I am aware, this feeding of the side-rolls into the heaters has been done by hand in the crudest manner, which generallv consists of the attendants holding the rolls close to the heaters, and allowing the paper to be drawn in and chopped up in a more or less irregular fashion. Owing to the compactness of the side-rolls the feeding must be done gradually, so as not to choke or injure the beater mechanism, and furthermore, as the material of said rolls comprises the highest grade of the paper stock, the feeding thereof should be comparatively slow and even so as not to unduly enrich the wet stock. As a rule the attendant is given a certain amount of this Waste stock to be fed into the heaters in a given time, say 1000 to 2000 pounds during the days run.

In many cases owing to the crude and imperfect method of handling this waste paper the attendants tire of the tedious feeding process, and throw a portion of the rolls into the river or otherwise make away with the stock, to the great loss of the mills.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a novel, simple and convenient machine for automatically handling and feeding these waste rolls into the heaters, the said machine consisting of a roll supportmg frame mounted upon a wheel-truck which may be moved from place to place, and positioned adjacent the heaters, into which the paper is fed in the proper amount.

A further object is to provide means for registering the weight, number or amount of the rolls, which are applied to the machine for feeding, so that if any waste or loss occurs the owners of the mill will be able to detect it. And a further object is to provide novel and effective means for compelling the attendant to feed the full amount of paper contained in each roll, the said means comprising a self-locking mechanism which prevents the removal of a roll from its supporting shaft, after it is once applied to the machine, without registering the full weight of the roll.

The various features and parts of the in vention will be understood from the detailed description which follows, and by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation; showing the complete device associated with a heater. Fig. 2 is a central vertical cross-section taken on line 22 of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section, taken on line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4: is a detail horizontal section taken on line 4- 15 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section taken on line 55 of Fig. 3.

The feeding device is preferably mounted upon a truck for rendering it movable from place to place. The truck comprises a platform 2 which is mounted upon rollers or wheels 3, the latter being pivoted in brackets 1.

The feeding and weighing mechanism is disposed in a hollow U-shaped casing 5 which is mounted crosswise on the top of the platform 2, and secured thereto by bolt 5. The roll of paper 7, which is to be fed into the heater 8, is mounted upon a shaft 9. The

shaft 9 is pointed at one end, as at 10, so that it may readily pierce the center of the roll, while the other end is formed into a head 11, preferably strong enough to withstand the lows of a hammer for driving the shaft through the roll. The opposite ends of the shaft 9 are supported by yoke-bearings 12, comprising the upper ends of reciprocating rods 13, which are disposed in the opposite upright arms 6 and 6 of the frame 5. The upper ends of the arms 6 and 6, have simi lar severed portions 14 and 14, wiich are hinged at 15, and may be swung on the said hinges to the extent shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 1. The rods 13 are guided by brackets 16 and also by bridges 17, both of which are disposed in the swinging parts 14 and 14, so that the said rods are movable with the said parts. The rods 13 are normally held in their idle or upwardly extended position, shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3, by the tension of coil springs 18, the said springs resting on the bridges 17 and engaging pins 19 carried by the said rods. As the roll of paper 7 is being fed into the beater 8, the weight upon the shaft 9 gradually decreases, and allows the springs 18 to slowly lift the shaft 9 until it registers with the horizontal portion of L-shaped slots 20 formed in the parts 14 and 14, as best seen in Fig. 1. The vertical portions of slots 20 are provided to allow the gravitation of the shaft 9 under the weight of the roll of paper, as shown in s. 1, 2 and 3. To remove the shaft 9 from the machine, and also to facilitate the convenient loading of the shaft and roll onto the machine, the severed portions 14 and 14 are swung on the hinges 15, as from the full to the dotted line position, shown in Fig. 1, until the said parts rest upon a vertically disposed stop 21, and when in this position the shaft 9 may be lifted vertically out of the slot 20, driven through a roll of paper, and then the shaft bearing the roll is reinserted in the slot 20, as shown. In order to prevent the shaft from being withdrawn endwise from the parts 14 and 14, the said shaft is reduced at 9, for forming shoulders which engage the opposite sides of the swinging part 14.

To weigh the paper of the rolls, as 7, I provide tne following mechanism: 23 rep resents a balanced-lever disposed in the casing 5, and comprising vertical arms 24 which are positioned in the uprights 6 and 6 of the casing directly beneath and in line with the rods 13. The upper ends of the parts 24 are enlarged, as at 25, and are constantly in engagement witi rollers 26 carried by the rods 13. The arms 24 are guided by brackets 27 which may limit the downward movement of the balanced-lever. The arms 24 are tied together by a horizontal bar 28, which is inclosed in the central part of the casing beneath the roll 7. Below the bar 28 are extension rods 29, which are guided in bearings 30 mounted upon the bed 2 of the truck. The lever 23 is held in its upper or idle position, shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 3, by coil springs 31, which normally hold the heads 25 in engagement with the rollers 26. The weight of the roll of paper is registered or indicated by a cylinder 32, which is mounted upon a shaft 33, the latter being journaled in bearings 34, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The registering cylinder 32 is graduated longitudinally in a suitable manner, to represent the weight in pounds, and said weight shows through an opening 34 in the top wall 35 of the casing 5 (see 4). The cylinder 32 is rotated in one direction for cumulating or adding the weight of the successive rolls by a lever 36, a pawl 37 and a ratchet 38. The lever 06 is pivoted at one end on the shaft 33, while the other end has a fork which engages the cross-bar 23 of the balancedlever 23. The ratchet wheel 38 is rigid on the shaft 33 concentric to the cylinder 32, and the pawl 37 is carried by the lever 36 and engages the said ratchet (see Fig. 3). [at each downward movement of the lever 23, as when actuated by the weight of the roll of paper, the cylinder 32 is rotated a corresponding distance for indicating the weight of the paper at 34, for example, when the roll 7 is placed in the machine, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the cylinder 32 is rotated until a pointer 39 points to the middle line between the 2 and 3 of the said cylinder, which indicates a weight of 250 pounds. When the next roll is placed in the machine, the amount of its weight will be added to that of the first roll, and so on.

In order to lock the movable shaft supports 14 and 14 in the operative position, shown by full lines in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, T provide latches consisting of plates 40 which are disposed at or near the bottom sides of the slot 20, the free ends of said plates being slotted at 40 to provide oppositely facing spring arms or jaws 41 (see Fig. 5). 42 represents similar vertically movable bolts, which are held by guides located in hollow extensions 44 of the frame portions 6 and 6. The lower ends of the bolts 42 carry pins 45, which engage the slotted ends of rocking-levers 46 which are pivoted at 47, the opposite ends of the said levers having forks which engage pins 48 carried by the lever 23. l Vhen the roll of paper 7 together with shaft 9 is placed in the bearings 12, and the parts 14 and 14 are swung from the stops 21 into the operative position, the

weight of the roll of paper depresses the rods 13, and these in turn depress arms 24 of lever 23, for weighing the paper, and at the same time the said arms rock the levers 46 which force bolts 42 upwardly (see full lines in Fig. 3). In case the bolts 42 move upwardly before the latches l1 enter the openings 49 in the part l4, then the jaws 411 engaging the said bolts are spread apart suliiciently allow the said bolts to enter the slot 40 (see Fig. The jaws 4-1 grip the bolts 4e and prevent the parts 14: and it from being swung to the left for releasing e shaft 9, until he paper comprising the 7 is entirely unwound. It is intended t the normal tension exerted by the sort the weight of the shaft 9, the rods 13 and the lever 23, so as to bring the shaft in line with the horizontal part of slot 20, and that any additional weight carried by the shaft 9 depresses the said parts, and efiects the locking of the entire feeding and weighing}; mechanism, as described.

Where the rolls are short, two or more may be placed on the shaft 9 at the same time, and the feeding done with the same facility and regulation. The full and dotted lines 50 in Fig, 1, indicate that the web of paper may be fed into the beater, either from the top or underside of the roll.

It is obvious that the same means employed for actuating the weight indicator 32, may be employed for counting the number of the rolls, instead of weighing them, with but slight rearrangement.

It is obvious that, although I have men tioned particularly the side-rolls, as eX- plained, rolls of any other nature such as olf color rolls rolls that have been jammed o otherwise injured, so as not to be fit for shipment, sulfite rolls, and rolls that are imperfect from any other cause, may be handledfed and weighed, the same as the side-rolls, and that all of these are intended to be included within. the scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a paper feeding and weighing mechanism, a shaft for supporting a roll of paper, bearings for said shaft, said bearings depressed by the weight of the paper on said shaft, springs for lifting said bearings and said shaft after the paper is unwound, means for locking said shaft in the feeding position, and means actuated by the depressing of said bearings for indicating the weight of the paper at the start of each feeding operation.

2. In a paper feeding and weighing machine, a shaft for supporting a roll of paper to be fed into a beater, means for locking said shaft in the feeding position, vertically movable bearings for said shaft, said be ngs depressible by the weight of the paper carried by said shaft, springs for lifting said bearings and said shaft to their upper positions after the paper is unwound, rocking levers for rendering the locking means inoperative while the bearings are in the upper position, a weight indicator, and means actuated by the depressing movement of the bearings for actuating said in dicator.

3. A paper weighing and feeding mechanism, including a shaft for supporting a roll of paper, latches for locking said shaft in the feeding position, bearings for said shaft, said bearings depressible under the weight of the paper carried by said shaft, resilient means for lifting and holding said hearings in the upper position after the paper has been unwound from said shaft, a weight indicator, and means actuated by the depressing movement of said bearings for operating said latches and also said indicator.

In a feeding and weighing mechanism, a frame, having severed portions connected by hinges, a shaft piercing the severed portions, yieldable bearings for supporting said shaft, latches for locking said severed portions to the stationary parts of the frame, a balanced-lever having arms constantly in engagement with the said bearings, means actuated by said lever for controlling said latches, a weight indicator, and means controlled by said lever for actuating said indicator.

5. In a paper feeding machine, a shaft for supporting a roll of paper to be fed into a heater, a hinged-support for said shaft, vertically movable bearings for said shaft, said bearings depressible by the weight of the paper carried by said shaft, springs for raising said bearings and said shaft after the paper has been fed into the heater, and bolts for locking said shaft in the feeding position, said bolts actuated by the depressing movement of said bearings.

6. In a paper weighing and feeding mechanism, a shaft for supporting a roll of paper to be fed into a beater, means for locking said shaft in the feeding position, means for preventing the longitudinal movement of said shaft, vertically movable bearings for said shaft, said bearings depressible by the weight of the paper on said shaft, a balanced-lever, said lever depressed by said bearings, a rocking-lever for operating said locking means, said rocking-lever actuated by said balanced-lever, a weight indicator, and a rocking-lever operatively connecting said balanced-lever with said indicator.

7, In a paper feeding and weighing mechanism, a stationary frame, movable portions hinged to said frame, a truck for supporting said frame, a roll-supporting shaft piercing said movable frame portions,means for preventing the longitudinal movement of said shaft while supporting a roll of paper, means for locking said movable frame portions in the closed position, bearings for said shaft, said bearings adapted to be depressed by the Weight of the roll In testimony whereof I aifix my signaof paper carried by said shaft, a balancedture in presence of two Witnesses.

lever adapted to be depressed by said bearings, springs for lifting said bearings and STANLEY DAVIS also said shaft, springs for lifting said bal- Witnesses:

aneed-lever, and a Weight indicator actuated DENNIS J. BRENNAN,

by said balanced-lever. FRANOIs S. DAVIS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington. D. G. 

